The invitation to learn for this lesson includes the online letter from an upper level class with access to weather information and data AND a sick plant. To make the task the most authentic, the sick plant should spend some time in the upper level class (maybe they want to "make it sick") so those students develop an interest in the research the younger students will do.

When the students brainstorm reasons for the plant to be sick, they should be identifying factors they know about that influence plant growth. For example:

This discussion leads directly to creating small research groups around one of he factors affecting plant growth.

Printing Student Pages:

This unit is targeted for second graders. The Website uses frames which makes it difficult for students to print out material. You should print out these pages for your students:

We have included five templates for students to make their own Website if you have access to a school server. While your students can view the templates from our server, you will need copies of the templates and three images.

One template is for the homepage. The others are for each small group that studies the effect of one factor on plant growth. We have included four templates set up for light, soil, temperature and water. Review the templates and edit them for your class. You can view source and save the HTML pages from the name link or download the files from the rtf file link.

To get the images, click on the image, hold own the mouse button and "save this image as." Be sure to keep the same name for this image. If you create a replacement image, use the same name for your image. Create a folder called graphics and put the images in the graphics folder.

Now, create a folder for the templates and the graphics folder and you are ready to serve the templates from your Website. Note that you add a photo from your own class to the homepage. Save the photo as a jpeg and name the file class.jpeg. Put it in the graphics folder.

Alignment with Standards

This project aligns with the following New
York State Learning Standards. The student will:

Understand and apply
scientific concepts, principles, and theories pertaining to the physical setting and
living environment.

Apply the knowledge and thinking skills of mathematics, science, and
technology to address real-life problems and make informed decisions.

Listen, speak, read and write for information and understanding. Students
will collect data, facts, and ideas; discover relationships, concepts, and
generalizations, and use knowledge generated from oral, written, and electronically
produced texts.

Use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding
of communities and their needs.

Use number sense and numeration to develop an understanding of the
multiple uses of numbers in the real world, the use of numbers to communicate
mathematically, and the use of numbers in the development of mathematical ideas.